Getting Longer Lashes In The Blink Of An Eye

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Tints, perms, strips and dips. To some, it may sound like a foreign language, but many women believe eyelash treatments are the hottest trend since Botox.

A look can be just a look, but a look with lashes means a little more.

“It can be dramatic. It can be flirting. It can be seduction. It can even say, ‘I don’t want anything to do with you,'” said Twin Cities author and psychologist Brenda Schaeffer.

They’re the newest secret weapon in a woman’s loaded arsenal of beauty tricks.

“Bambi probably started it. Kim Kardashian took it to a whole other level,” said Extrados Salon owner Leah Simon-Clarke.

“Long, thick lashes are so popular right now,” said salon customer Holli Hoffman.

One look at the dozens of “eyelash bars” sprouting up around town tells the story.

“Recently, I was complimented by a gentleman and he said, ‘It’s all in your eyes’ … and I failed to mention, that it’s eyelash extensions,” Simon-Clarke said. “Most men, they notice it but they don’t know what it is.”

WCCO-TV took two pictures with only one difference — one showing a woman with eyelash extensions, the other without — and then asked people in a random test in which picture does the girl look more beautiful?

The strong majority picked the picture with eyelash enhancements, even if it was hard for the men to pinpoint why.

Schaeffer said although the men didn’t know why, they chose the picture with lashes, because it invites you in.

“The eyes are the windows to the soul and the lashes are the frame,” Schaeffer said.

She said think about how the lashes are the only difference between Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

You may also find it interesting that lashes are actually a trend recycled.

“It seems like every 20 years, it has been occurring,” Schaeffer said.

However, there are more options now than your mother or grandmother could’ve dreamed.

Extrados Salon in Linden Hills was the first lash bar in Minnesota.

“We do a very customized analysis with each client,” Simon-Clarke said.

Each of its clients is prescribed one of the following six treatments. The first treatment, Simon-Clarke calls the “be-all, end-all of all treatments” — eyelash extensions.

“You kind of look like a surgeon while you’re providing the service,” Simon-Clarke said.

She said she thinks extensions are also the most impactful. Technicians apply a single, individual synthetic eyelash to their customer’s individual eyelash. WCCO-TV found that most lash bars that were contacted are booked out for the lash extensions at least a month.

While eyelash extensions are most time consuming, lash strips are the least time consuming. They’re also the cheapest application.

Strips can be purchased anywhere from your local grocery store to pharmacy store. If you don’t touch them too much, they can last up to 24 hours.

Option three is a dip that’s applied to the lash to act like a sealant.

“It’s very similar to mascara, but you wake up with it and its there, every day, for three to four weeks,” Simon-Clarke said.

The next option is a tint application that’s made primarily of vegetable dye.

“Many women have blonde tips and they don’t even realize how long their lashes really are until they get the tint,” Simon-Clarke said.

Next up, if you can perm the hair on your head, these girls say why not the hair on your eyes?

“It makes them more visible. They may go straight out, you can’t see it, you put the curl in and voila! There they are,” Simon-Clarke said.

Finally, if you’re looking to enhance what you have, customer Holli Hoffman recommends a product called “Le Lash.”

“It looks like liquid eyeliner, but it’s clear,” Hoffman said. “You just put one stroke on this eye, and one stroke on this eye, and that’s it … It’s just a matter of putting it on at night before you go to bed and six weeks later, I had long lashes. It was pretty spectacular.”

Six treatments with price tags up to $300.00. While that may sound like a lot of money to the non-believer, to borrow an expression from a beauty commercial, “They’re worth it!”

I LOVE eyelash extentions, they are great- compliments all the time! I have used over the counter lash extending solutions but there is nothing like the real, individual lash extentions. Firm believer:)

Hmm. . . I was interested to read this article when I heard about it yesterday on the Dave Ryan in the morning show. Honestly, I don’t know if I can buy into all the hype about long lashes. Yes, I like having long, thick eyelashes, but I don’t know if I’d be willing to shell out $300 for them.

My question–is this really newsworthy? You have people who have lost their jobs worrying how they are going to make their housepayment or rent. Getting a $40 or more haircut at a major salon is a real luxory. Eyelash extensions–come on–women in that situation are lucky if they can afford Maybelline.